Holland’s verbal shot at OTP spices up snowboard cross showdown

Cory Wolfe02.14.2010

Nate Holland of Squaw Valley, California indicated with his five fingers after winning his fifth consecutive Men's Snowboarder X gold medal at the Winter X Games 14 at Buttermilk Mountain on January 30, 2010 in Aspen, Colorado.

VANCOUVER — Since snowboarder Nate Holland of the U.S. swaggered into town for the Vancouver Winter Games, he’s unloaded some colourful quotes.

He added another on Sunday during final training runs for the men’s snowboard cross competition, which runs Monday at Cypress Mountain.

“You guys should ask the Canadians why they’re wearing such tight pants,” Holland said with a grin, while sporting his own baggy, denim-looking bottoms issued by U.S. Snowboarding.

Holland might not be as recognizable as countryman and fellow red-headed rider Shaun White — the defending Olympic halfpipe champion — but he certainly doesn’t fly under the radar. Last week, he introduced himself in Vancouver by taking a playful poke at Canada’s Own the Podium program.

“They can take that thing home,” Holland told a packed news conference. “We’re just going to rent it for the month.”

His quips might make some thin-skinned Canadians scowl, but Holland’s loquacious manner is precisely what makes him likable. After all, when a guy describes his board as “a freakin’ rocket ship” how can you not smile?

And when poor visibility greeted competitors on the first day of snowboard cross training, Holland shrugged off the conditions, saying he’d be comfortable “to ride by braille down the course.”

The 31-year-old from Idaho comes from a freeriding background, so perhaps that’s why he’s comfortable veering off course — verbally, too. His rent-the-podium comment ranks among the most repeated quotes of the Games so far. When Canadian team vet Drew Neilson of North Vancouver, B.C., first heard it, he responded with a grin and a rebuttal. Neilson started diplomatically, but finished with a bit of spice.

“We’ve been training hard, we’ve had lots of support and we’re really well prepared,” said Neilson. “So, that rent will be unaffordable as far as I’m concerned.”

Gamesmanship aside, the U.S. has plenty of hardware to back up its bravado. American riders have claimed 14 of the 42 medals awarded since snowboarding made its Olympic debut in 1998 at the Nagano Games. Americans won seven medals at the 2006 Turin Games alone, including golden performances by White and Seth Wescott, the reigning snowboard cross champion.

Holland ranks among the favourites in Vancouver, having recently captured gold at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., while France’s Pierre Vaultier has been almost unbeatable this season with four wins in five World Cup starts. The Cypress Mountain venue — which was beset first by a lack of snow, and more recently by poor visibility — also promises to be a formidable foe.

“It’s the kind of course that you must know very well how to ride a snowboard,” said Italy’s Alberto Schiavon, a bronze medallist behind Holland and Wescott at the recent X Games. “It’s very difficult, with big features and so challenging. But these are the Olympics, so it has to be like that.”

Canada’s strength in snowboard cross is on the women’s side. Maelle Ricker of West Vancouver, B.C., and Turin bronze medallist Dominique Maltais of Petite-Riviere-St-Francois, Que., should challenge for gold Tuesday. The Canadian men aren’t without medal hopes, either.

Rob Fagan of Squamish, B.C., ranks fourth in World Cup standings this season, and Mike Robertson of Canmore, Alta., placed second in a World Cup event last year at Cypress.

Neither Neilson nor Francois Boivin of Jonquiere, Que., has reached the podium this season, but they’ve contended in recent weeks — each posting a fourth-place result.

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